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Did you know that Shaq is worth a half a billion dollars, but that he made most of his money not through basketball. He built it buying boring businesses. So I want to break down how he did it and how ordinary people like me and you can copy his playbook. As a young NBA star, Shaq didn't go out and waste his money on fancy watches and big cars. He bought something a little bit different. A chain of coin operated car washes in Orlando. He liked the recession resistant nature of it, the simplicity. And at one point he had over a million quarters at his house. Like 250 grand worth of quarters. To his accountant's surprise, into the bank's dismay when he had to go deposit all. You know, Shaq's always had a knack for making money. Fast forward 2007, he wanted to dip his toe into franchising. So he was still a player of the Miami Heat. So he partnered with an experienced group of franchise operators to buy a number of Annie Ann's pretzels. Back in the day, these were all the rage at malls. And so the deal was they were going to buy six stores in Detroit and I think eight stores in Buffalo. But he was going to have no involvement in the day to day business as he was still an active player. I think this really highlights that everyone starts somewhere. And for Shaq, like he could have made a massive investment, right? Like he could have bought anything he wanted. But instead he started small, he started on the sidelines and he wanted to learn the business. For him it was like a low risk. Like, let's just kind of see how this goes. And if I like the food business and if I like this franchising thing. And I think that's really important for anybody who's looking at franchising is the first deal you do doesn't have to be the biggest. It doesn't have to be the thing that makes you millions. The first goal is just to get in the game and then you can start to learn, you can start to see what it takes. And maybe that business can explode or maybe it's just a stepping stone. And for Shaq, it was like he was in it for a number of years. They had to think up to 17 locations that they sold them all. You know, after traffic started dying at the malls, it just wasn't worth it for him anymore. But it built his foundation, which is super important. A year later, he got the itch again as he moved one year closer to retirement. So 2008, he bought into five guys in Atlanta. He Liked the business and just kept buying more locations. Fast forward three years, he retires in 2011 and goes all in on five guys at this point. They build a big team and they keep buying, they keep opening applications. At its Peak in 2016, he had 155 locations, which was like 10% of the entire system at that point. And he realized this may be the peak. He had made a lot of money, he got a big offer, and so he sold his entire five guys portfolio so he could diversify and move on to the next thing. And I think there's a couple good lessons here to learn. Number one, he started small, he got his foot in the door, and then he just compounded. He reinvested back into his own business. He acquired franchises, he opened up new ones. I mean, I've done the same thing. I started in 2016 with two automotive franchises. We've reinvested a lot of profit. We've done acquisitions, we've opened new ones. Today we're at 35 locations in that business. We'll do $50 million this year. And I'm not like, unique in that way. Like, I have a bunch of other friends in the franchise game who've literally followed the exact same playbook. And if, like, I can do it, my friends can do it. If Shaq can do it, like, you can do it too. Once you learn a business, it's copy and paste. And then you never know what could happen. Fast forward to 2019. Papa John's was in crisis mode. The founder, good old Papa John, said some racist things, and their reputation was in the gutter. They lost their NFL deal. Sales were declining like everything was going wrong. Who do they call to save the day? No one else but Shaquille o'. Neal. They offer him a lucrative deal. They pay him millions of dollars. They give him unrestricted stock options. They make him a board member, and he also becomes a franchisee. He buys nine locations in Atlanta and starts working the process in 2020. He helps launch a Shackaroni pizza, which became one of the best selling menu items. And ultimately, Papa's John Stock went from $40 to over 130 in two years. Like, he made millions of dollars from this turnaround. What's the lesson here? Sometimes the best opportunities are in the gutter. They are covered with mud. They have some scratches on them. And you can make a lot of money by reviving these. Now you gotta be careful, though, because sometimes brands are falling knives, and if you catch it and you cut you and it's still going down like you could lose a lot of money. But. But on Papa John's case, like it wasn't a business model issue, it wasn't a product issue, it was a reputation issue. It was the founder is what caused all the problems. And by the time they get him out of there, Shaq comes in like people move on to the next big scandal and then they forget about it. Right. And so it was actually a really smart move that wasn't that risky for Shaq. And like we can learn the same. Up to this point, Shaq was a franchisee, he was an advisor to a franchisor, he was a brand ambassador, but it was for other people's brands. He decided he is going to leverage his personal brand, his knowledge, his experience and all that to build something for himself. And so he launched the Big Chicken restaurant brand in Las Vegas in 2018 and just started to work it. And he was involved in menu development, the restaurant design, the franchise kind of model and who are the type of people he was looking for and all that. And as of Today there are 40 locations open, but there's 350 in development. Like Big Chicken is going to be one of the biggest franchise concepts in the US And Shaq's done it right. Like he didn't just launch this thing and try and sell a ton of units right out the gate. He spent years developing this thing, perfecting this thing and he's used all of his knowledge and experience and networking connections to make this happen. You know I personally trying to copy this playbook. You know, I've been a franchise over a decade. We've built a big multi unit portfolio. I'm an investor now in franchisors. I'm also an advisor to a number of them. This is what's really cool about franchising. And there's like multiple levels to the game and most people start down at the bottom where it's like I'm going to be a single unit franchisee and then I become a small multi unit and then I become a bigger multi unit. Maybe I buy multiple brands, then I become sort of regional developer. Maybe I own a portfolio across multiple cities. And then there could be opportunities to invest into franchise or to be advisors to ultimately launch your own franchise one day or be the private equity company, right, that supports it to raise money. Like there's so many layers to the game, but that's what's really cool about it. Once you get in your foot in your door and you learn all these different elements, there's huge wealth to Be unlocked in it. And this is what Shaq's done. This is what I've done. This is what a lot of my friends have done. You could do the exact same thing. So why does this all work? Franchising is a team sport, just like basketball. You have to bring together multiple people with different skills in sales, hiring, managing, operations, legal, hr, all of it. Shaq doesn't personally hire delivery drivers or manage any of his big chicken restaurants. He has people that do that. He's built an awesome team. But unfortunately, so many business owners get stuck in the I do it phase. They want to do everything themselves. They can't delegate. They can't build the team. They can't coach people. They'd rather micromanage. I'll just do it myself. They get so frustrated. And that's like, okay, if you're trying to just replace your income and you don't want to work for anybody, like, it's totally fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's other people like me and like Shaq and maybe you, who want to build an empire. Like, we want to build a massive business. I run a group called Eight Figure Franchisees, where our goal is to help people build $10 million of more of revenue and then eventually $10 million of cash flow. And that is a real opportunity in franchising, just as Shaq has proved and so many other people. And so if you want to copy his strategy, this is what you do. Number one, you got to get in the game. For Shaq, it was Annie Ann's. It could be something else for you, but you've got to get your foot in the game. Then you got to learn the business. You got to learn inside and out. You got to learn every aspect of it. The only way franchising works, the copy and paste mode, is you learn it. Then you build a good team. You can't do it all yourself. You have to surround yourself with people who are better than you, smarter than you. You gotta be able to let go. Then you double down on what's working. Once something works, copy, paste, copy, paste. Get as many units as you can in the same brand to build a strong team before you look to diversify. Too many people try to diversify way too soon, me included, which has slowed down my growth. And then five, keep pushing yourself to grow. For Shaq, having a personal brand and launching his own restaurant is a huge deal. Because, like, what if it was a big failure? You know, he's the big guy. He's been in franchising is this huge success. What if his restaurant was terrible? What if he couldn't hire people? Like, what if all the franchisees they picked were not good operators and the chicken was bad? Like, that would be a huge blow to his reputation. So honestly, like, it's a huge bet, but he's had success with it and he wasn't going to let it fail. And so as business owners, we decide how far we push ourselves. And the people who are able to push themselves the furthest outside of their comfort zones and challenge themselves are the ones who have the greatest success. So I challenge you to do the same. Now, if you want to learn more about what it takes to build an eight figure franchise business, I put together this free guide below where I detail a little bit more about my journey and what I look for when buying a multi unit franchise. And my team helps people buy their first franchise. So if you're one of those people says, hey, listen Brian, I just want to get in the game. I'm just looking for something to get started. My team can help you. There's another link below to book a free strategy call. There's no cost, there's no obligation. We just kind of like help you analyze options and then go from there. So what do you think about Shaq's strategy? What was your favorite part? What is the thing that surprised you the most? I'd love to hear it in the comments below. And if you're not subscribed to this channel, I put out videos every single week talking about how to build wealth through franchising. I'll see you in the next one. Cheers.